slo’s MONDAY 11/4 poll - Orthopedic Surgery

[tazdev3225]

I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand and i scope on my right knee, My left knee has had 5 scopes for torn meniscus. Thought I was heading to number 6 but fortunately I'm not. I'm not even a candidate for a replacement right now. I do have arthritis in the knee and have a brace to wear as needed since the knee is weak.

I hope your daughter feels better soon. My 17 year old grandson just had his second ACL surgery in the spring. We all have our fingers crossed that he will be able to get back to baseball in the spring but my daughter has been told eventually he will need his knee replaced.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I have not but I was a swimmer and swam butterfly and have tons of shoulder issues. I’m sure I need surgery but have just gotten used to the pain and limited usage over 30 years. I should get it looked at.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Me personally, no. Still, others close to me have had some.

Over the last few years, my dad has had a hip replacement and a shoulder replacement. My MIL had one of her knees done last year. Not quite the same, but DD15 had surgery on her thumb a few years ago. She took a foot to the hand while making a tag and it completely snapped her thumb. She ended up with these temporary pins that her surgeon referred to as her Wolverine claws.

 

[The Mayor]

I've had many orthopedic procedures dating back to when I was young!!! Had 5 arthroscopic cartilage repairs, 4 left knee and one right knee. In 2008 had a left knee replacement and it's still going strong, in 2020 had my right knee replaced and it too is going strong. I often joke that my new knees are the only part of my body that don't hurt!! Go to the gym 5 days a week and ice skate with my grandchildren with no limitations.

In addition to my knees I've had a broken hand (hockey injury in HS), two broken wrists (skateboard when I was 14) and a fractured elbow.

@slo I was feeling the same way you are when I had my first knee replacement. Put it off for over a year and was limping around in pain everyday. My wife finally convinced me to pick a date and do it and was I glad she did. After the pain from the surgery went away it was life changing (not exaggerating!!) not being in pain any more. That made my decision to have the second knee sooner rather than waiting.

 

[monsterkitty]

I had ankle and foot surgery in 2010 due to an injury sustained in a race.

I just had surgery on my finger in October. I had a cyst on the finger at a joint. I thought it would be a simple drain and removal, but no. I had to go to the orthopedic surgeon to have bone chips in the joint that was causing fluid to leak and form the cyst. I was asked when I broke my finger, and I have no idea that I even broke my finger. They also removed some bone spurs caused by the injury that I had no idea I had.

 

[disney212]

I had my left food done in 2022 due to multiple fractures which is a side effect of the crohn's meds I take. 13 implants. In March 2024 had my 2nd spine surgery, lower back and 13 implants there too. Full recovery from all my surgeries and I joke 13 is my lucky number.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

I've never need orthopedic surgery but my parents have had it and do need it.
My mom had both knees replaced.
My dad had low back surgery which fixed the problem but created so many other problems we would never recommend it to anyone else.
He is also having a knee replacement in a couple months.

 

[slo]

Yes......I fell in Jan. 2023 and broke my hip and it was replaced.

Hope your DD is doing well after her surgery, slo.

Thank you Meriweather - she's back at school today, so we'll see how she's doing after that

Yes, left knee replaced 10 years ago. Like you, Sandy, and many others, I put it off and off. Afterall, who wants to get a major, essentially elective surgery? After about 11 years, finally got it done. Tough? Yes. Lots of PT? For sure. But, like everybody I talked to over those 11 years while I was waiting, said they were all so glad they had it done, and should have done it sooner. And I so very much agree now. Now I don't ever really think of my left knee. Now, the rest of the body, yeah, I think of it often, ha.

You'll do great, Sandy. And continue to wish good results for Katie.

Thanks Dan, I really need to suck it up and get it done. Every time I say I'll do it, something comes up and I put it off. Maybe after Katie's graduation in May
Thank you for your well wishes for Katie - she had a little better of a day yesterday.

I had surgery to remove torn meniscus 3 years ago, followed by knee replacement in July this year. Found a great new surgeon after we moved to another state. He is a good communicator, uses a minimally invasive technique, and ordered a quick connect pedaling device to use in my home for 3 weeks concurrently with 3X a week PT. I was fortunate in that we opted for a zero entry shower in our new house, that along with a shower chair greatly helped me in the first weeks after surgery. I have a great result, I transitioned to use of a recumbent bike in the gym of our development, along with a lot of walking and many water aerobics classes a week as soon as the incision healed. I can now do stairs so much easier not to mention walking in the sand at the beach without issues, although my other knee will need replacing at some point. Like your orthopedic, when to do the second knee is up to me. My current plan is to wait at least a year from the first surgery to obtain optimal healing on the first knee.

Good luck to you and your daughter. My advice to you for your future surgeries is to choose an ortho who does many knee surgeries each year, to take a pain pill prior to PT to get the maximum benefit from therapy, and invest in a ice therapy machine at home for the first weeks of therapy.

Thank you very much!!!
Those Ice therapy machines are the best!! I bought one about 5 or 6 years ago when DD21 had her first knee surgery. When I bought it, I decided to get a shoulder attachment, just in case (DD21 is a softball player) and I'm glad I did. I got my moneys worth out of that machine - her 2 knee surgeries, other knee injuries, and now this shoulder surgery.

I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand and i scope on my right knee, My left knee has had 5 scopes for torn meniscus. Thought I was heading to number 6 but fortunately I'm not. I'm not even a candidate for a replacement right now. I do have arthritis in the knee and have a brace to wear as needed since the knee is weak.

I hope your daughter feels better soon. My 17 year old grandson just had his second ACL surgery in the spring. We all have our fingers crossed that he will be able to get back to baseball in the spring but my daughter has been told eventually he will need his knee replaced.

Thank you very much!!
I'm sorry to hear about your grandson - I hope he is doing better now and I hope he is able to play in the Spring. When an athlete can't play it's so hard and stressful for them.

I've had many orthopedic procedures dating back to when I was young!!! Had 5 arthroscopic cartilage repairs, 4 left knee and one right knee. In 2008 had a left knee replacement and it's still going strong, in 2020 had my right knee replaced and it too is going strong. I often joke that my new knees are the only part of my body that don't hurt!! Go to the gym 5 days a week and ice skate with my grandchildren with no limitations.

In addition to my knees I've had a broken hand (hockey injury in HS), two broken wrists (skateboard when I was 14) and a fractured elbow.

@slo I was feeling the same way you are when I had my first knee replacement. Put it off for over a year and was limping around in pain everyday. My wife finally convinced me to pick a date and do it and was I glad she did. After the pain from the surgery went away it was life changing (not exaggerating!!) not being in pain any more. That made my decision to have the second knee sooner rather than waiting.

I need to by like you and I'm so glad you are feeling better now. Maybe 2025 will be the year

 

[Micca]

Are you now 12?

Not many people go thru with life without some kind of surgery. How many times have you won the lottery?????

OK I did have my wisdom teeth out when I was in high school, does that count? I've won the lottery three times-biggest was $500, others were $2 and $4.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Only downfall is when I fly I can't go through the metal detector. I just use both hands to point and say, "Knees." Usually they can open the big x-ray machine for me, sometimes I get wanded.

I don't see it as a downfall. Every time I've flown since my surgery (hip replacement) I just point to hip and they send me to the xray vs the metal detector. Or they use a wand.

 

[disneychrista]

This pill is very timely for me. I have my first appointment today with the orthopedic doctor about my neck. MRI results showed moderate to serve compression which is causing numbness in my right arm as other issues. I am really hoping with medication and physical therapy I can avoid surgery. But the numbness scares me. I already have noticeable decreased strength and grip. I don’t want to lose use of my dominant arm/hand.

 

[disneychrista]

Are you now 12?

Not many people go thru with life without some kind of surgery. How many times have you won the lottery?????

At age 52, I have had no surgeries. I would like to keep it that way.

 

[DVCjj]

Fractured Ankle. Still struggling with hardware pain 10 years later.

 

[Dan Murphy]

hanks Dan, I really need to suck it up and get it done. Every time I say I'll do it, something comes up and I put it off. Maybe after Katie's graduation in May

And Marie had a hip replaced 8 years ago. She also is so happy she did and sorry she did not do it sooner.

 

[Lumpy1106]

L4-L5 microdiscectomy when I was about 40, had to go back in and take the whole disc out when I turned 50. I work really hard at maintaining core strength so really have not felt better. Knee has been giving me issues for years now but can still run, so not anxious to have that looked into.

Getting old sucks - that is all.

 

[E&Cmom]

I have not had an orthopaedic surgeries. So far I have been lucky and the only surgeries I have had were c sections. I did however work on an ortho unit as a nurse early on in my career.

 

[TCRAIG]

Multiple over the years all from just ‘wear and tear’ and general klutziness - no accidents - rotator cup in my right shoulder, torn meniscus in my right knee, several spine surgeries, and bones removed from the toes on my left foot (broke them so many times they grew back sideways and into adjacent toes)…

 

[SarahM1987]

I was always pretty lucky staying injury free during my childhood up until I was a senior in high school and was hit by a drunk driver. My spine is fused from T5 to L1, it was fractured in 3 different places, and my level of spinal cord injury is T6 complete where my spinal cord was completely severed. I had so many internal injuries, along with different degree fractures to both legs and feet, my pelvis, ribs, and left wrist with a shattered left elbow. It took a long time to recover from everything except the spinal cord injury, but I eventually got there with the help of family and close friends.

I had my hand accidentally crushed in a car door when I was 25 that required several reconstructive surgeries to repair everything. Then in 2018 and just two weeks before our Disney World trip I had a transfer mishap between my chair and a SUV and re-broke my lower right leg in two places. We still went on the trip with our daughters, and managed to have a memorable time during their first experience at Disney World. I've had other surgeries over the years, but those weren't orthopedic related.

 

[easyas123]

My husband has had 2 discs in his upper spine replaced, and had the same knee scoped twice with a replacement sometime on the horizon. His spine surgery was life changing for him.
My father, who hadn't spent a night in the hospital since birth and wasn't one for Dr.'s had lower back surgery 3 years ago and he went from hardly being able to walk to full freedom of movement again, he's a different man!

I've been lucky so far. 52 years and the only surgery I've had was a sorta elective cosmetic procedure. Wouldn't mind keeping it that way.

 

[georgina]

I was going to say no, but then I googled whether carpal tunnel surgery counted as orthopedic, and apparently it does. Have had both wrists done and 3 trigger finger surgeries.

Knee replacement runs in my family so that may hit down the road. DH had a hip replacement and bounced back very quickly.